Eight injured as staff of private, govt buses clash

Eight people were injured as the staff of City Bus Service and a private firm, Budhel Bus Service, engaged in a fight in a race to carry more passengers, at around 9 am at Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar inter-state bus terminal here on Saturday.

The staff of City Bus Service and Budhel Bus Service engaged in a fight, leading to a traffic jam(JS Grewal/HT)

Eight people were injured as the staff of City Bus Service and a private firm, Budhel Bus Service, engaged in a fight in a race to carry more passengers, at around 9 am at Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar inter-state bus terminal here on Saturday.

The members of the two groups hit each other with rods and bricks and created ruckus outside the terminal. Before the situation could worsen, the Ludhiana Police intervened into the matter and calmed down the two parties.

But, around noon, when the director of the City Bus Service, Jaskirat Singh, reached the bus terminal to look into the matter, the two groups again entered into a fight and assaulted each other. The situation worsened and the agitated groups tossed turbans of Jaskirat and Karnail Singh — a relative of the owner of Budhel Bus Service.

The matter did not end here. The staff of City Bus Service took to the streets and blocked the road outside the bus terminal, causing a traffic jam for nearly one hour. The protesters demanded arrest of the employees of Budhel Bus Service.

The commuters had to face the brunt of the scuffle as the traffic police failed to divert the traffic to other routes.

Meanwhile, both the groups have submitted their complaints, while the police are yet to register any case.

When contacted, station house officer at Division Number-5 police station, inspector Beant Juneja, said the police had received complaints from both the groups and would take appropriate action after investigating into the matter.

On Friday, kin of deceased auto-rickshaw driver Vikrant Kumar had blocked the city road for at least three-hours, crippling the flow of traffic.

Meanwhile, a man was beaten up by the staff of City Bus Service that confused him as a member of the Budhel Bus Service. The man has filed a complaint with the police.